Title: Educated: A Memoir
Author: Tara Westover
Publish Date: February 20, 2018
Publisher: Random House
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 334 pages
Source: Library
Date Read: February 16-18, 2020
Review
I had no intention of reading this book on my own; it was my IRL book club pick. I read the glowing reviews from both book industry types and readers, yet I was convinced this book wasn't for me. I was right.
Educated is about Westover's life as a daughter of Mormon fundamentalist family living on a mountain in Idaho. Her life and family are just fucked up nutcases. It was hard to read about constant physical and emotional abuse of children who then grew up and continued the abuse or turned away from the family and upbringing. When Westover left at 17 to go to college, I did empathize with her when she was writing about roommates who were Mormon, but not "her kind" of Mormon and her money woes. But every time she made head way in breaking away and becoming her own person in the not fundie world, she raced back toward the mountain and her family, back to the abuse. This happened five or six times and it was exhausting to read and then just boring. She didn't want to break up with her family, even though her older brother did it earlier than her and was much happier living in the non-fucked up world. And because it took so long for the break up to happen and so many fucked up situations described just numbed me to having any sympathy for her. Personally, I don't think she is smart as she and glowing reviewers think she is. Educated sure, but she has a lot of learning to do still and I have no desire to read anything else by her.
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